A New Life
by Tiddlyfisher
Summary: Stiles' father has become a violent drunk, and Scott is practically ignoring him since he's started dating Allison. But he finds solace in Derek Hale, and things only escalate from there; in more ways than one.
1. New Routine

Stiles drives his jeep to the Beacon Hills woods; his only safe haven. His father has been on a case of murders that he just couldn't wrap his head around, and it was really getting to him. He had been taking it out on Stiles more and more lately, not meaning to, but it was happening.

His father had started drinking a lot, and as a result had become a danger to Stiles and himself. Stiles started sleeping in his Jeep in the woods so he'd be safe from his father's reckless behavior.

He pulled into his usual spot, looking down at the city, the moon in his view. It was a tiny crescent this night. As if someone had taken a bite out of it. Stiles laughs to himself, remembering how he used to think someone would take a bite out of the big cheese ball in the sky.

As he sits in his Jeep his train of thought touches many topics of his childhood, and he's smiling a lot, enjoying himself; remembering things he wouldn't have normally. Things like when he found a little garden snake and decided to keep him, and his dad said only if he would feed him. Naturally, he said yes and tried feeding his reptile friend a ham sandwich.

He loses his smile then. Coming back to reality. He looks at the moon again, and it's covered by clouds. He sighs, and lays back on his jeep's seat. Immediately after that, a branch falls on the roof of it, and it comes within inches of crushing his head.

"Fuck..." Stiles says to himself. He groans, realizing he'll have to tell his dad. But for now, he needs to at least try to sleep.

He tries relaxing, when he hears a knock on his door.

"It's not safe for you to lay there, another branch might fall. I'll help you out," a man says.

"No it's-" Stiles starts to say, but the man opens the door, grabbing him under his leg, sliding him out lightly. He pulls himself out when he has enough room.

"Thanks," Stiles says to the man, and then he sees him.

Dark hair, stubble covering his face, a leather jacket, and when he looks into his eyes, they're a gorgeous green. He knows who it is: Derek Hale.

"Derek Hale, right?" he asks him.

"Yeah, and you?" Derek returns.

"Stiles Stilinski."

"Right. Well, Stiles, would you like to stay with me tonight? Since you don't have anywhere else to go."

Stiles wasn't sure what to say. Derek didn't even know who he was, and yet he was offering him somewhere to stay. He wanted to say no, that he'd be okay, but he wouldn't be.

"Yeah, thanks. You're so nice."

Derek lightly scoffs at what Stiles said, "I'm not nice."

And on that note, he turns and walks to where he's staying. Stiles, realizing this, hurries after him, not wanting to be stuck in the middle of the woods.

After a minute of walking, Stiles asks, "How did you know that branch fell on my jeep?"

"I heard it hit the roof, it was a pretty loud noise. Hard to miss," Derek replies.

"Oh..." Stiles says simply, feeling a bit ashamed for asking the question; implying that Derek might have been stalking him.

Another minute passes, and Stiles sees a tent.

"I was camping tonight, so if you aren't used to camping, you might not sleep so well," Derek says,

"I've been camping a lot," Stiles lies. He had only been camping a few times, but he lied for some reason. Almost as if he was trying to impress Derek.

Derek looks at him as if he knows he's lying, and then he goes in through the tent flaps. Stiles follows suit. Derek is taking off his jacket when he comes in, and then his shirt, following with his pants. Stiles feels a bit uncomfortable, but doesn't show it. He strips down as well, and then realizes how cold it is. He also realized there was only one sleeping bag.

"Uhh... There's only one sleeping bag."

Derek looks at him, then the sleeping bag. He unfolds it, showing that it's a rather large sleeping bag.

"I keep it folded because I'm the only who uses it. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable," he says, a bit sheepishly.

Stiles doesn't know what to say, he feels stupid now, for embarrassing Derek.

He crawls into the sleeping bag; Derek gets in on his side. Stiles is super cold, but hopes he'll get warmer.

Thirty minutes later, Stiles is still cold, and is shivering now. He's about to reach for his shirt, when he hears a sigh, and then the sound of the sleeping bag moving. Wondering what is going on, he's about to turn around, but then he feels a warm body against him and an arm wrap around him. Instinctively, he moves as close as possible to the warmth, and he grabs the arm. He immediately regrets it, but he doesn't move away.

'Derek is using himself to keep me warm... Maybe he thinks I'm asleep?' Stiles wonders to himself. He'd keep thinking about it, if he wasn't so tired, and now comfortably warm. He falls asleep quite fast.

* * *

Stiles wakes up and he's alone. He looks to where Derek would have been. Laying there was a note.

_I did my best to fix your jeep. It should be fine until you can have it properly repaired._

He checks his phone: It's **8:37.** He dresses himself and runs to where his jeep was, and sees that the roof is in perfect form, the paint is just messed up, and it might need to be smoothed a bit. He gets in and makes his way down the road to the town. His dad would have left for work already, so he can change clothes before going to school.

Once at school, he goes through his normal day. Nothing interesting happens. Nothing interesting ever seems to happen anymore. At least for him. He feels that he's in a rut in his life. And he doesn't know what to do to possibly get out.

On his way home, he thinks about Derek. It was strange what happened between them. That kind of thing never happens, and Stiles has a strange urge to go see him again.

Stiles pulls into his driveway, a bit worn out from lacrosse practice. He has an hour before his dad gets home. He takes this time to take a shower and eat. It's almost become routine.

He decides that he'll leave to go to the woods early today. Hoping that Derek will be there. That he'll be what gets him out of this rut in his life.

* * *

It's a few past 8:00 when he gets to his usual spot. He's unsure of what to do next. He doesn't know if Derek will still be camping, but he hopes he is.

After a half an hour, Stiles starts to think maybe he isn't coming, so he gets out of his jeep, and starts to walk to where the tent was.

He comes to the spot, to find it void of the tent, and any sign of Derek. He turns around, about to go back to his jeep in disappointment, when he hears a familiar voice.

"Looking for me?"

Stiles turns around again to find Derek there, carrying his tent under his arm. He smiles sheepishly and replies, "Yeah... I like sleeping in a tent more than my little jeep. Its more comfortable than I expected..." he pauses for a moment, and sees that Derek still has a face of indifference, and he adds, "If you don't mind."

Derek smirks and drops the tent down before saying, "As long as you help me set it up."

Stiles smiles, and walks over to help set up the tent.

They're nearly finished, just putting in the remaining support sticks, when Derek asks, "Stiles, why do you sleep up here? Don't you have a family worrying about you?"

Stiles, not expecting the question, looks up at Derek, and in the process, is smacked right in the ribs by one of the support sticks.

"Ahh!" he cries out in pain and surprise, he trips over a tree root and lands on his back.

Derek laughs loudly, and it gives Stiles butterflies, which confuses him deeply.

"You okay?" Derek asks him, offering his hand.

Stiles takes it, his face red. Derek smiles at him, hoping to ease his embarrassment.

Stiles abruptly says, "I sleep up here because my dad drinks too much, and I don't want to get hurt..."

Derek loses his smile, he simply says, "I'm sorry to hear that. But I know it will get better."

Stiles hadn't told anyone else about what was happening at home, and it took all of his being not to cry. His dad was all he had left. And he was losing him. He couldn't say anything or else he knew he would lose it.

But Derek knew this, and said, "Don't cry..."

Stiles lost it then, and he felt like and idiot for crying. He knew it was going to be awkward. But Derek didn't say anything, he didn't walk away. He just pulled Stiles into an embrace, and held him as he cried. He let Stiles bury his head into his chest, hiding himself from the world.

When he finally stopped crying, Stiles looked at Derek not knowing what to say. He looked at his shirt, and saw that there was a rather large wet spot.

"Sorry about your shirt..." Stiles says, mortified. He can't believe that he just cried that much on Derek's shirt.

"Doesn't matter, I have plenty, and I won't be wearing it much longer," Derek replies, taking it off, along with his jacket as he puts the last support stick in the tent hole, before crouching through the flaps. Stiles smiles to himself as he goes through the tent after Derek. He's already in the sleeping bag, so Stiles strips down and gets in the bag on his side.

Stiles thinks about how he felt earlier. When Derek laughed, he had butterflies, which is strange to him. He'd only had that feeling around Lydia. Who never pays attention to him anyway, he can hope that one day she'll notice him. But it seems that Derek already has. He smiles again.

"Hey, Derek?" Stiles asks meekly, hoping that he's still awake.

"Yes, Stiles?" Derek answers, sounding wide awake.

"Can we... can we do this every night?"

Derek is silent for a moment, but then he turns around, facing Stiles' back, "Sure, as long as you help with- actually, maybe you should stay away from the tent," he laughs.

Stiles laughs, and turns to face Derek, who is closer than he thought; merely a foot away. He is getting cold, but doesn't know how to say it.

"I'm getting kinda cold..." he says, unknowing of a better way.

Derek makes a face, almost as if he's debating something in his head. And then he scoots closer and wraps his arm around Stiles, who looks up at Derek and simply says, "Thanks."

He thinks about what he's doing, how it doesn't feel weird. Even though he's never done something like this with another guy, it doesn't feel alien. It almost comes naturally.

He thinks about it more and more, but ends up falling sleep before getting a better understanding of it.

* * *

In the morning, Stiles wakes up to find Derek is still with him, and that now he's behind him. He grabs his phone and checks the time: **7:43.**

"You're awake, finally," Derek says.

Stiles, who thought he was asleep, jumps, which causes both of them to laugh.

He turns around, "Yeah, and it's early. Wanna go eat breakfast? My dad's gone for work, so we don't have to worry about him."

Derek nods, "I'll follow you with my car."

When they're both dressed, they pack the tent up and part ways; Stiles waits at his jeep while Derek gets his car.

Stiles has a feeling that he's out of his rut, that he has a new routine. And he just can't stop smiling.


	2. The Protector

Once at Stiles' house, Stiles takes Derek to the kitchen, and asks him, "What do you want?"

Derek replies, "What can you make?"

"You mean... like cooking?"

"Yes. Like cooking."

"I uh... I don't really cook. Besides toast, and it sometimes is burnt."

Derek rolls his eyes, and sighs as he goes to the fridge, taking out the eggs, cheese, and ham.

"Want an omelet?"

Stiles nods meekly.

Derek skillfully makes two ham&cheese omelets, as though he's done it thousands of times before. He sets one down on Stiles' plate, and the other on his own.

"Now let us pray..." he says in a mocking tone.

"Are you serious?" questions Stiles.

Derek just looks at him for a second before saying, "Just eat your freaking omelet."

Stiles, happy to follow this order, starts scarfing it down, finishing it literally minutes before Derek.

After a bit of silence, Stiles breaks it with, "So..."

"So," Derek says in reply, taking the last bite of his omelet.

"What do you normally do? I mean, I go to school, and Lacrosse practice... What do you do?"

"I do whatever interests me to put it simply," he says, seeming to be done with the question, and then he adds, "But... usually I don't have anything to do."

"You can always come and do something with me if you want. I don't do much anymore either since Scott started dating Allison. He's my best friend, but he's always spending time with her now, and I don't want to stop him if it makes him happy."

Derek sees that Stiles is upset, and in his best attempt to cheer him up, tells him, "Uhh.. yeah, we can do things, maybe I can show you this part of the woods that's pretty cool. It has a bridge." Derek realizes that he sounds like and idiot and immediately regrets it.

Stiles doesn't think this though. He has a strange attraction to Derek that he can't explain, and any time with him sounds appealing.

"Sounds good to me. Show me tomorrow, I don't have lacrosse practice then, so we have more time to check it out."

Derek nods affirmatively.

The two sat at the table, not knowing what to talk about. Stiles looks at the clock, and notices it's nearly **8:20**.

"I have to shower and change clothes... I guess I'll see you tonight..." Stiles says as he stands up from the table.

Derek nods once more, also standing up from the table, and he walks to the front door, letting himself out and driving back up to the woods.

Stiles showers and gets dressed before going to school for another mundane day.

Derek is actually on the way to the store. He arrives at his destination, and picks something up for Stiles, who will see it later that night.

* * *

After a tiring day of school, Stiles makes it home. He cleans up the dishes from that morning. Before leaving, he checks to make sure there isn't anything out of place, anything that will anger his dad. When he feels there isn't, he grabs his keys and walks out the door , gets in his jeep, and makes his way up to the woods.

He walks to the tent, already set up, and calls out, "Derek?"

A moment later Derek pokes his head through the flaps, and pulls it back in. Stiles enters the tent, no longer cautious.

Derek is in the sleeping bag already. Stiles undresses and goes in his side, but there's something there.

"I got you a blanket, because you're always cold," Derek tells Stiles.

"Oh, thanks."

Stiles actually was a bit disappointed, he had hoped that Derek would keep him warm again. Even if he wouldn't entirely admit it to himself, he liked it a lot.

Stiles wraps up in the blanket and is warm, but it just isn't the same.

* * *

In the morning, Derek is gone once more, and another note is there.

_ Sorry to run off again, I would have had breakfast again, but I had something to take care of. Meet me in this same spot when you get out of school, I'll show you the bridge._

Stiles takes the note with him as he leaves the tent and goes home to get ready for his day.

Derek didn't have anything to take care of. He just had to get away from Stiles. He was getting in. He was getting in his life. He had kept everyone else out, but it was something with Stiles. He couldn't leave him under the branch, and he couldn't let him sleep under the tree if it might drop another branch. He even let him sleep in the same sleeping bag as him, and kept him warm.

He wished he never would have helped him out. He'll just lose him. Like how he lost everyone else. Images of his family cross his mind, but he pushes them away.

He watches Stiles as he leaves the tent. He trips over a root, and Derek chuckles lightly, but then he remembers. He remembers that he's not supposed to let him get any closer to him. He loses his smile. That's how easy it is for Stiles to get close.

He sighs, knowing he should stop fighting it. 'Stiles will get close anyway, so why fight it?' he wonders to himself. 'Maybe he won't leave...' he thinks hopefully, 'Maybe he'll be the first to stick around.'

Derek walks to the bridge and looks down at the water. He watches as it gently flows over rocks in one section, and hastily blasts down in another.

He wonders what it's like to be water, to just flow anywhere, with nothing else to do but exist. He ponders it for a moment, thinking that he's not much different from water.

* * *

Stiles is in the hallway, coming from the bathroom, when he notices Lydia is crying. He knew this was his chance to get close to her. Considering he's had the biggest crush on her since the 3rd grade, he knew what she liked. He went to the snack machine and bought a Reese's, her favorite candy, and came back to where he saw her. She was still there, and he walked up to her and asked, "Are you okay?"

She looks at him incredulously, "Does it _look _like I'm okay? Did you _really_ have to ask that?"

"Oh... right..." he responds, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"With you? You wouldn't understand," she looks away, and Stiles assumes she's upset about Jackson.

He offers her the Reese's, as a last attempt to cheer her up.

"Candy? I can't. If I eat it now, I'll be eating it all day," Lydia says as she stands up, "I'll just go cry alone now..." and then she walks away.

The bell rings; school is over. Stiles gets up and walks in the general direction of the parking lot in defeat. He had been so hopeful, that this would be the time he came close to her, maybe even become her friend. But she pushed him away like always. He should have known.

He stops by his house to eat, but the majority of the time he spends picking at his food. He just throws it away and leaves to find Derek.

Stiles sees Derek standing against a tree, and he wonders how long he has been waiting there.

Derek spots him and steps off from the tree, and begins walking to the bridge, not bothering with greetings.

Once at the bridge, Derek turns and waits for Stiles' opinion. When Stiles doesn't say anything, Derek asks, "Is something wrong?"

Stiles debates whether to tell him or not, but decides that if he'd tell anyone, he'd tell Derek.

"Yes, something is wrong. Since the 3rd grade, I've had a huge crush on this girl named Lydia. She barely even knows me, but when I try to talk to her, she always pushes me away or just dismisses me. I know so much about her, more than she could even imagine. More than anyone," Stiles says with great irritation, "Today, I saw that she was crying, and I guessed it was because of her shit boyfriend. So I decide that maybe she'll want her favorite candy: Reese's. I get her one, and try talking to her, but she doesn't want to. I offer the candy, and she doesn't want it because she's worried about her figure."

Stiles leans on the railing, hanging his head. Derek stands next to him, offering little support. Stiles pulls out the wrapped candy and pulls his arm back to throw it, but Derek grabs his arm.

"You know... I like Reese's too," and Derek does something neither of them expected.

When Stiles looks at him, he leans down and kisses him lightly on the lips, making it last for a few moments.

Stiles feels butterflies as soon as their lips meet, but he's confused, and isn't quite sure what to do. In panic, he shoves Derek off of him, looking at him like he's crazy, and runs off.

"Stiles, wait! I'm sorry!" Derek calls regretfully and dejectedly.

Derek, feeling like an idiot, looks down at the water, and sees the Reese's flowing down with the current. It seems he has something else in common with water. He pushes everything away.

* * *

Stiles gets into his jeep, and drives off, it's as if he's on auto-pilot; he doesn't come back to reality until a few minutes later, and he's already far down the road. He pulls over to the side, and slams his head against the steering wheel.

"Why am I such an IDIOT?!" he chastises himself. He gets out to walk around.

"He probably feels awful now. No, I know he does. He must feel like shit, and all because I couldn't keep my my head clear."

He sits down in the grass, trying to think of what to do. He looks down at the flow of water on the side of the road, and he notices a Reese's, and wonders why anyone would waste it.

"Maybe he's still there... I hope he is..." Stiles remembers that he shares the tent with Derek at night then, "Shit, I really have to go find him."

Stiles gets in his jeep and drives back up to the woods.

He doesn't know how he can apologize for his idiocy. He doesn't have an excuse, except for one thing he hadn't told anyone else before, ever.

Stiles walks to the bridge, searching for Derek. After a few minutes, he returns to the bridge in defeat.

"FUCK!" he screams, "FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK!" he slams his fists down on the railing of the bridge. He crosses his arms and rests his head on them.

"I'm guessing something's wrong..."

Stiles looks up to see Derek, who is standing at the very edge of the bridge.

"Derek I'm... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to panic like that. You just surprised me..."

Derek doesn't say anything, doesn't move.

"It's actually more than that..." Stiles says as he slumps down against the railing of the bridge. He pats the empty space next to him; requesting Derek to sit next to him. Derek is cautious, but he makes his way over, and gently places himself next to Stiles.

"One day, when I was really young, I came home from school an hour early, it was a teacher planning day, we always get out early on teacher planning days," Stiles says dully.

"I walked in on my mom about to hang herself. She looked at me with wide eyes. And then she ran over to me and hugged me, and kept apologizing. I didn't get what she was doing. When she finally looked at me, I just had a blank face, and I asked her, 'Can I go watch TV now?' and she nodded. "

Derek had an empathetic look on his face, and he wanted to put his arm around Stiles, but thought maybe now wasn't the time.

"I turned on the TV, but I didn't watch it. I kept thinking about what she had been doing before I walked in. But I didn't understand. I was too young at the time. I thought about it every time I saw her though."

"It wasn't until middle school that I found out about killing yourself. We watched a video about it... When I got home, my mom smiled and asked me how school was, but I didn't answer. I just asked, 'Mom... were you going to kill yourself?'" Stiles tells Derek despondently.

"She stopped smiling, and sat me down at the kitchen table. She told me that she was sick, and that it hurts every day. That she wanted to just end her suffering. But when I walked in, she remembered that she has to protect me, and so she deals with the pain every day because she loves me so much."

"We had to check her into the hospital the next week, we found her on the floor of the living room. Turns out she had breast cancer, that spread to her ribs, causing bone cancer, and even spreading. To her collar bones. She went terminal, and they put her on chemo, and gave her morphine, and she kept fighting."

"I would visit her every day while she did chemo, to get her mind off it. I'd tell her everything, even things that were so dumb, like when I saw a butterfly, or a bug, and I couldn't catch it. She loved it though..." he trails off for a moment.

"Then I saw you, and you were so cool in your nice car, leather jacket, great body, perfect hair... I told her about you, and she was interested right away. She told me I should talk to you, but I had to explain to her that someone as cool as you wouldn't talk to me," Stiles says, and then he scoffs as his own words.

"I started seeing you more often, and developed a crush on you like Lydia. But you were different, something attracted me to you more, I didn't understand it. But I still talked about you all the time. I didn't tell her that I liked you yet," he looks at Derek, who was already looking at him.

"One time I saw you in town, and I followed you," Stiles looks away then, "I saw you kiss a guy. I didn't know who it was, and I didn't care, but it surprised me."

Derek was also surprised. He thought no one had ever seen him with a guy, he only used them as a quick fuck, so it didn't really matter, but it still surprised him.

"I told my mom about it, and she didn't really care. Things continued like that for a bit, until I saw you running one morning, and you were so muscular, perfect abs, pecks, arms... I told her about it, and she said you must work out like a freak to stay so perfect," he laughs lightly, but his eyes are watering.

"When you fought Jackson that one time, and gave him a messed up face for making fun of your family, she thought you were great. She was glad that you could protect who you cared about. She wanted to do the same herself, because she knew about how he would pick at me and Scott," another laugh, but this time his tears brim over.

"I started talking about you so frequently, she would stop asking how my day was, and just ask what you did today. One day when she asked, I finally told her about my crush on you. And that I thought I was gay. She didn't say anything, she just sat there. Like she was thinking about, if I was gay. But then she just changed the subject like I hadn't said anything."

"She died a few weeks later. The doctors didn't understand why at first, but they figured it out. She had started taking her IV out during chemotherapy; successfully killing herself," Stiles' voice cracked, and he stayed silent for a moment.

"The last day she was alive, she asked me if I still had a crush on you. When I said yes, she just nodded, and we carried on like normal," Stiles states in tears.

"I knew she had killed herself because she didn't want to be alive knowing she had a gay son. I stopped paying attention to you after that, even ignoring you. Until a few days ago, when you helped me out from under that branch. My old feelings started coming back, and when you kissed me, it just made me remember why my mom killed herself, "Stiles finishes hysterically.

Derek pulls Stiles into an embrace then, and takes in all that Stiles just poured out. Then he thinks of something.

"Stiles, you said that your mom stayed alive to protect you right?"

Stiles nods into his chest.

"And that she was glad I protected those I cared about?"

Stiles nods again.

"And how she asked you if you still had a crush on me before she died?"

He nods once more.

"Stiles, did you ever think that maybe she stopped fighting her cancer because she knew that I would protect you when she was gone?"

Stiles doesn't move, he keeps crying, but he's stopping, and he looks up at Derek like he's the best thing in the world.

"You really think that's wh-why she did it?"

"Yes, I really do."

Stiles is quite again, but he rests his head on Derek's chest. Derek doesn't say anything, just let's him lay there as he cries his eyes out. For the second time.

When Stiles is silent, he dries his eyes and says, "I think I need some time. Before we get into anything."

Derek just nods. He didn't expect to get all of this baggage with Stiles, but he couldn't turn back now, and he didn't plan to.

"It's getting dark," he says.

Stiles looks up and notices how dark it had become, "Oh, it is."

"We should should probably head back and set up the tent."

"Yeah," Stiles agrees as he gets up, Derek following him.

Derek had to grab the tent from his car before they could set it up. Stiles mainly chatted away while Derek did all of the work.

Once finished, they undress and get in the sleeping bag.

Derek notices he forgot the blanket for Stiles, "Crap, I forgot your blanket."

"It's fine, you're way more comfortable anyway," Stiles replies as he snuggles up against Derek.

Derek smirks as he wraps his arms around Stiles, "It's more comfortable sleeping like this for me too," and he nuzzles his head against Stiles.

They fall asleep in mere minutes, perfectly content with each other.


	3. Sort of an Art

When Stiles awakens, Derek says, "Good morning."

Stiles turns around to face him, "Morning."

"It's eight."

Stiles whirls around to check his phone, and Derek was right, "Fuck, I have to go to school."

Stiles stands up, but Derek grabs his hand. "Wait, stay here with me."

"What, and miss school?"

"Yeah, does one day really matter? We can spend it with each other."

Stiles ponders it for a moment, thinking if it would really matter. He had only missed a few days when he was sick.

"You know what, I will," and he gets back into the sleeping bag with Derek, who wraps his arms around him once more.

The two talk and tell stories for a few hours, not noticing the passing of time, until Stiles gets a text from Scott.

**Scott: **_hey where were you today?_

"Scott actually texted me first. Let alone reply to one of my texts," said Stiles.

"What did he say?"

"He asked where I was today. Oh wait, it's 2! Damn. We've been talking for ages."

Derek makes a surprised face, "Wow, I feel like a shut-in."

Stiles rolls his eyes as he gets up and grabs his clothes to dress himself.

"Are you leaving?" Derek asks.

"Yeah, and you're coming with me. I want to walk around the forest before it gets dark, so get dressed."

* * *

They are enjoying their walk, pointing out animals and plants they spot, Derek even takes Stiles' hand at one point, and he lets him hold it.

Stiles notices an old house, and insists they go inside, dragging Derek along, even though he protests the entire way there.

"I just want to look inside!"

"Stiles, it's super rundown, it could collapse at any second."

"Well... we'll be quick," Stiles said as he open the door, it creaked open for a bit, and then fell off.

"Wow, this place really is run down," Stiles says.

"No shit..."

He ignores Derek as he walks in, and all the furniture is pushed around and turned over. All the walls are painted white, ceilings too. With wood floors. The place looks like there had been thieves, but nothing of value appeared to be stolen. Stiles assumed that a group of kids from his school did it for fun.

He comes across a stair case, and ascends it right away.

"Stiles, what if the floor gives out?"

"I'll be fine, it's like a ten foot fall."

"That's not what I... whatever. Just be careful."

"Yeah, yeah."

Stiles reaches the top, and it's just a hallway, no doors or anything, besides one at the end of the hall, and it has multiple locks on it. He walks up to it, analyzing it, and deciding it wouldn't take much force to break them off at this point, considering their age. He backs up a bit, and runs at the door, jumping and sticking his feet up for two-foot kick. He smacks into the door, and it cracks at the frame a bit, but it doesn't break open, and he falls to the ground with a thud.

"Ow... Derek!" he calls out as he gets up.

"What is it?!" Derek calls back to him as he flies up the stairs to him, and then he sighs, "What did you do?"

Stiles answers Derek's question with his own, "Can you open this door for me?"

Derek glares at him, but he walks over to the door and kicks it open.

"I wish I could do that..." Stiles says enviously.

He stands up and walks through, and he sees transmutation circles all over the walls of the room, some complete, some partially done, others are crossed out, or check marked.

"This is crazy..." Stiles says as he looks up, seeing even more transmutation circles.

"Yeah..." Derek says from the doorway.

Stiles' eyes fall on a chest, and he goes over to it, but it's locked with an ancient pad lock. It was manually hammered into its shape.

"Derek..." Stiles says, summoning him to come kick the lock off.

"Thank you," Stiles says as he opens the chest, and it's filled with jars and boxes filled with elements and compounds. In the middle rested a large and rather old grimoire.

"Whoa..." he says in fascination. He picks it up, and dusts of the cover, but it's too worn to read. He opens the book, and is happy to see that the pages are intact.

"Alchemy: Apprentice Stage One..." Stiles reads out, "Hmmm..."

He tucks it under his arm and closes the chest, putting the broken lock on the latch, imitating its previous state.

"You actually want that old ass book?" Derek asks incredulously.

"Yes, I do. It's interesting," Stiles says defensively.

"Whatever, enjoy it I guess."

Stiles cuts his eyes at Derek as he walks out the door and down the stairs, and then leaves the house. Derek is right behind him though, and they walk together again. Stiles makes Derek carry the book after he realizes how difficult it is to carry it around.

"You took the damn thing, why do I have to carry it?"

"Because you kicked the lock off. I wouldn't have taken it otherwise. So it's technically your fault," Stiles retorts.

"That doesn't make any sense at all."

"Yes it does."

They go back and forth for all the way to the tent, where Stiles promptly begins ignoring Derek, and he cracks open the grimoire.

_They who desire to have the most true knowledge of the greater science of the philosophical Art, let them diligently peruse this little book and often times read it over and they shall obtain their prosperous and wished desire. Listen to these things, you children of the Ancient Philosophers, I will speak in the loudest and highest voice I can, for I come unto you to open and declare the principal state of human things and the most secret treasure of all the secrets of the whole world. I will not do it feignedly and erroneously but altogether plainly and truly, wherefore use you towards me such devotion of hearing as I shall bring unto you magistery of doctrine and wisdom, for I will show you a true testimony of those things which I have seen with my own eyes and felt with my hands_

"Damn, this book is old," Stiles notes.

"I could have told you that," Derek mocks.

"You're so nice," Stiles says sarcastically.

"I told you I wasn't nice, but you didn't believe me."

Stiles rolls his eyes, and his stomach growls.

"You got any food?"

"No, but we can get some."

"Great, I'm starving," Stiles says as he closes the ancient text and jumps up to walk with Derek to his car, and they discus where to eat.

* * *

They decided to eat at a local cafe, and Stiles asked Derek to take him home so he could leave the leftovers for his dad, in case he was too drunk to make food himself.

"I'll be right back, I'm just going to set it on the table," Stiles tells Derek as he opens the car door.

Once inside, he walks to the dining room, where he sees his father sitting with a nearly empty bottle of scotch.

"The school called me today..." the sheriff slurs.

Stiles is very cautious, and walks over to sit at the table with his father, and he sets the leftovers box on the table.

"Why did you miss school today huh?"

"I just skipped is all... it's not important."

His father throws the bottle across the room, and it shatters, sprinkling glass over the floor.

"It's not important?! You think you can just play hooky?!" he yells questioningly.

"It's not a game Stiles! You can't just do what you want!" he continues to yell, and he stands up and gets in his son's face.

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?! WHY ARE YOU SUCH A FUCK-UP, HUH?! CAN'T YOU DO ANYTHING RIGHT?! EVER?!"

He pushes the table over, and continues to scream out in anger. He rips a few pictures off the wall, facing away from Stiles, who takes this moment to get up and run out the front door. He runs to Derek's car, where the door is already open for him.

Stiles gets in and Derek begins driving off immediately. He looks at Stiles, who is shaking, and looks close to tears. But he's keeping it together.

"Are you-"

"I'm fine," Stiles says, cutting Derek off.

Derek returns his attention back to the road, and can't stand that Stiles had to go through that. He heard it all, and yet he didn't do anything. He knew he should have at least walked to the door with him and waited there.

He reaches over and puts his hand on Stiles'. He grabs it and holds tight.

* * *

Derek pulls up next to the tent, and he looks at Stiles, who is in the same position he was in when he first got into the car.

"Stiles..." Derek says.

Stiles doesn't say anything, he just gets out of the car and into the tent. Derek follows after him.

He was throwing his shirt off next to his pants when Derek came in. Derek strips down and lays next to him, wrapping his arms around him.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Derek asks concerned.

"No..."

"...okay," Derek says in defeat. He wants to help Stiles, but if he won't let him, then so be it.. He doesn't rest until Stiles' breathing is even and steady; signifying he's asleep.

* * *

Derek awakens to soft amber eyes studying his face.

"Good morning," Stiles states dejectedly.

"Morning," Derek returns, "You okay?"

Stiles nods, "I'll be okay, I just need something to distract myself with..." he lifts his head up and scans the tent for anything of interest. His eyes fall on his 'borrowed' grimoire.

"Yeah... sounds good," Derek agrees as Stiles gets scoots over to said book, and begins reading. Derek doesn't know what to do in this situation. It's been a while since he's had anyone to care about, and it's strange for him.

He looks at Stiles and can't help but look at his ass, which looks pretty damn good in the light gray boxer briefs he's wearing. It's quite form fitting. Derek finds that he has a second tent, this one made from his boxers. He curses himself and reaches for his pants, hoping Stiles doesn't turn around.

"Hey, Derek, can you hand me my shirt? I'm kinda cold," Stiles requests as he turns around.

'Of course he asks that now..." Derek thinks. He's is a bit hysterical and grabs Stiles' shirt and throws it into his face when he turns to him.

"Umm... thanks," Stiles says awkwardly as he turns back around, slipping his shirt on.

Derek slips his pants on and exhales in relief. He lays down next to Stiles, and reads some of the text.

_There are many men too forward as deceitful boasters which after great expenses and labours, find out no effect but misery. I will therefore speak __plainly__ and manifestly so that the unskillful, as those that are expert and skilful, shall be able to understand the secret of this mystery._

_"_Wow, this book really is old," Derek points out.

They both laugh, and catch each others eyes. Derek's green; Stiles' amber. Derek leans forward a bit almost touching Stiles' face, and Stiles closes the gap. Their lips meet, it only lasts for a few seconds, but when Derek pulls away, they're still smiling like idiots anyway.

* * *

Stiles goes to school for the rest of the week, reading more and more of his grimoire everyday. And Derek searches for something they can both use.

Derek found a house, which he bought right away. Turns out, the house for sale was the house they broke into before. It was exceptionally cheap, because of it being robbed, and the creepy attic. He has plenty of money to spend from the massive amount his family left behind, and he being the only heir to claim it.

When he tells Stiles, he's shocked that he can just up and buy a house, and that it's the same house they discovered before. Derek had it cleaned and refurnished, since most of the furniture was broken, and he had it properly painted, instead of the dull white it was before. The floors he had polished, as well as stained and sealed, to avoid splintering and color fade. He gets internet and cable, as well as a nice television.

"You can move in here with me... if you want," Derek offers.

Stiles of course says yes, and moves all of his clothes and important things there, such as his printer, desk, and laptop.

Stiles got up for school one morning, got ready and everything, and when he checked his phone, he remembered that today there was no school, they had a four day weekend. And now he was up for no real reason. He was about to go back to bed when he caught site of the stairs that led up to the attic. Derek hadn't done anything to it, they just let it be. But now Stiles was tempted to go up there and explore some more. He grabbed his grimoire and went up the stairs.

He walks up to the door, and it turns out that Derek had the door fixed. He goes inside and everything else is the same, which Stiles is thankful for. It wouldn't be as interesting if the transmutation circles were painted over.

He learned a lot about alchemy, and now he's actually supposed to preform it. The first step is to actually train his body before his spirit, as the book put it. But he was on the lacrosse team, he already had his body toned.

He opens the chest, and finds a few blocks of wood, what he needed for his first transmutation, and he was glad there was some in the chest. He placed them on the book, over the transmutation circle drawn on the page in front of him and did as the book said.

He placed both hands on the circle, imagined what he wanted to make out of the block, and willed it to happen. He felt stupid, and knew it wouldn't work, but then the circle glowed a light blue, and a crude wolf statute formed from the block before his eyes.

"Whoa!" Stiles exclaims. He picks it up, and is very pleased with it, however chunky and silly looking it is.

The book says to transmute it back into the basic block, which he did, and was much more successful this time, making a perfect cube. He keeps going back and forth until he feels his statue it perfect. He grins at the wolf, which is about as big as his shoe, and decides to set it on a shelf for decoration. Stiles sets it in the living room, next to the television.

Following the text, he begins practicing his drawing of transmutation circles. They have a few in the book, the more complex ones have specific uses, such as explosions, fire, botany, and whatnot, so he doesn't practice those.

An hour or so later, Derek comes out of the bedroom to the kitchen, where he sees Stiles at the dining room table. He sees that there are a numerous amount of crumpled pieces of paper on the table, and even a broken pencil.

"Uh... Stiles? What are you doing."

"I'm practicing."

"Practicing what exactly?"

"Drawing transmutation circles."

"Drawing what?"

"Transmutation circles."

Derek is silent, waiting for Stiles to explain.

"They're used to transmute something, grass for example, into something like bread. It's alchemy, Derek."

"Okay then..." Derek says, disregarding Stiles' explanation, assuming it's some new hobby of his. He didn't think that alchemy was something to be taken seriously.

"You hungry?" he asks.

Stiles realizes that he hasn't eaten anything yet, and then notices how hungry he is.

"Yes, very."

"How about some bread? Or maybe grass?" Derek teases.

Stiles looks crossly at him, getting up and grabbing a box of cereal.

Derek laughs, "I'm only joking!"

Stiles is smiling, although he pretends to still be angry. But Derek knows, and he hugs Stiles from behind, his arms wrap around his waist, and he rests his head on Stiles' shoulder.

Stiles rests his head against Derek's, who kisses his cheek before grabbing the milk for him.

They sit on the couch, watching television, eating their breakfast; Stiles has cereal, Derek a plate of bacon, eggs, and toast. Derek notices the wolf and asks, "When did we get that?"

Stiles liked the way it sounded when he said, 'When did _we _get that?' Implying they're a pair, that they go together.

He smiles as he said, "I made it."

"I didn't know you carved wood."

"I don't."

Derek looks at Stile for a few seconds before returning to the television and eating his breakfast.

Stiles drinks the last of his milk, and goes to the kitchen to clean his bowl, and puts it on the drying rack. He returns to the dining room table to continue his drawing, and they were getting pretty good. His circles were still imperfect, but the internal shapes were just like in the book.

He progresses through the book, making detailed shapes and even pictures with paint, as well as mixing the colors to create new ones. Derek is watching T.V. though, and misses all of it. He then attempts to separate the colors. He wasn't asked to do this from the book, but he did it anyway, as a self test.

He extracted the red, but the blue and yellow were both a little bit green still. Stiles Is satisfied even so, and cleans up before joining Derek at the couch once more.

"What were you doing?" Derek asks.

Stiles' mind is filled with the light blue glow of a successful transmutation, the way the matter just forms into what he imagines, the paint separating on the paper he spent so much time perfecting.

"Nothing, just alchemy."

Derek nods, and gets up, walking in the direction of the kitchen to get a drink.

"You want anything? Derek calls to Stiles.

"Naw, I'm good."

Derek grabs a Pepsi can, and looks over at the dining room table, seeing the paint bottles, the stack of paper, and Stiles' grimoire, he assumes that alchemy is some form of art. He doesn't know it, but his ignorance is bliss.

Stiles completes his homework at the couch with Derek. He finds it painfully easy, which is a bit of a surprise to him, considering he found it challenging a few days before. He sets his biology book into his bag, along with his completed homework.

Later that night, they retire to the bedroom, which they are enjoying greatly over a sleeping bag in a tent. They still cuddle, even though Stiles isn't cold. It's become routine, and this is one they both love to follow.


	4. Deconstruction and Sucking, Basically

A couple months pass, and Stiles has winter break to spend with Derek, which he is very thankful for. He's really warmed up now, he smiles at the little things, actually laughs on a regular basis. He's even introduced Derek to Scott and Allison. Stiles didn't initially tell Scott he was dating Derek, but when Derek started making out with him in the movies, it was pretty obvious. Scott was shocked at first, but only because he didn't expect it. He was happy for Stiles, and Stiles was glad he didn't lose his best friend.

He pushed Derek to get a phone, and he finally did. But he only had 3 contacts; Stiles, Scott, and Allison. He only ever texted Stiles anyway, but Stiles made him put them in too.

Stiles continues to buzz his hair, even though it's getting colder. He likes it best that way. Derek tells him he should at least wear a beanie, but Stiles says no, much to his annoyance.

Stiles also makes it a few chapters into the grimoire, he can now transmute one object into another, such as sand to glass, water to ethanol, paper to wood, etc. He was becoming quite the alchemist, even using it at school. Sharpening his pencils with it, heating his food at lunch when it's too cold. He was even so daring as to seal the bathroom door on Jackson, which had him roaring with laughter.

Derek still didn't know about Stiles and his alchemical abilities. Stiles wasn't hiding it from him, he just had no reason to show him.

Stiles came to a point in the book about deconstructive alchemy. Literally blowing an object to pieces. He's intrigued and decides to test it out.

He goes into the forest, picks a tree at random, and draws the circle depicted in the book onto some paper. He isn't sure how he's going to get it to work, since he can't touch the circle and the tree with it at the same time.

After a bit of experimentation, he draws it onto his hand, and places his hand onto the tree. He breathes in a few times, imagining the result of the transmutation. And then he calls the energy and it flows through the array, and flows into the tree, and suddenly the middle of the tree just _exploded _outward_,_ spreading like a shotgun, the tree above falls down next to Stiles, and then topples over.

It made a loud _poof _noise when he used the deconstructive alchemy, as if air suddenly pushed everything out of its way. And the tree that fell made an even louder _thump_.

Derek heard the noise, and came running out, he sees Stiles and runs over, but Stiles says, "Fuck yeah..."

Derek is confused now, and so he waits behind a tree, watching him silently. Stiles walks up to another tree, places his hand to it, and a second later the middle of the tree was flying outward in thousands of pieces, and the upper part of the tree fell next to him, but before it could fall over, he blew that apart as well, leaving almost no tree behind, and then he does the same to the stump, leaving the tree in pieces.

"Stiles..."

He turns around to face Derek, and he loses his smile, but then it comes back just as quick, and bigger.

"You saw that?! Isn't it _killer_?"

"Uhh.. yeah..." Derek returns.

Derek didn't quite understand at first, and was a bit scared. Actually scared. But Stiles explained everything to him as best he could, the process of alchemy, and its many uses. At the end of the conversation, Derek was asking him to use his alchemical skill for all kinds of things. He had him change the paint in the living room a few shades darker, and then back again. He had him turn sugar into salt, and vice versa. And much to his delight, asked him to turn grass into bread, which he found amusing.

Stiles was glad that Derek knew now, and was interested in it. Another thing that brought them together.

* * *

Stiles was in their bedroom one night picking up some of the jars of boxes from the chest, which he had Derek move in front of their bed. He was trying to make vegetables and fruits as the book instructed. He grabbed some potassium, he was in the mood for some bananas. He turned around to see Derek naked, walking from the bathroom into the bedroom.

Stiles nearly drops everything, and he turns around, red faced.

Derek chuckles, "We've been dating and living together for months, don't you think we can see each other naked?" he walks up behind Stiles, and kisses his neck, "Or more?"

Stiles shivers against the touch, he's trying to desperately hold onto the jars and boxes. Derek slides a hand around to his stomach, under his shirt. He runs his fingers along the top of Stiles' waistband, and he shivers much more violently than before.

"_Fuck, _Derek. That feels so good."

"Hmm..." Derek hums into his neck, kissing it still, tracing his fingers back across, and this time Stiles can't help himself. He drops all of the jars and boxes and whips around to kiss Derek. Some of the jars break, but he doesn't care. He'll fix them later.

Stiles shoves Derek onto the bed- not the easiest task- and jumps onto him, straddling him.

"We've waited _way_ too long to do this. I hoped you'd make the first move ages ago, but now is good too," Stiles said before kissing his bare chest.

"I just wanted to be sure- _ugh_- that you were ready," Derek replies.

"Well... now you know..."

Stiles kicks his shoes off as he kisses Derek, he doesn't care where; his shoulders, chest, arms. As long as he's just kissing _him_.

Derek helps Stiles undress, kissing whenever they can, not stopping until they're both naked and he's on top.

"You're sure you're ready? I'm not the lightest fuck you know."

"I was born ready."

Derek rolls his eyes at Stiles' ridiculous remark, but he doesn't break his flow, he just leans down and kisses Stiles' neck once more, though more roughly than before, sucking at the delicate skin.

Stiles wraps his arms around Derek, pulling him closer, which entices Derek to suck harder, much to Stiles' delight. Derek's hand roams Stiles' body, ending under his knee, where he pulls it up next to his hip. Stiles moans lightly, getting excited, in all the right places. Derek too apparently, he can feel his cock rubbing against his own, and he can't get enough of it.

Stiles pulls Derek down; his ear at his mouth, "I've been thinking about this for a while... I want you to fuck me so much it _hurts_. I want you to leave me _sore_. I want to be _fucking screaming_."

Derek is dripping pre-cum after hearing that, it falls onto Stiles' stomach. Derek suddenly latches onto Stiles' neck again, but this time bites him, Stiles throws his head back, in complete bliss.

"Fuck yes, oh god Derek, I just want your dick now. Give it to me already," Stiles begs.

Derek has dripped a small puddle onto Stiles, and decides to not let it go to waste. He scoops it up with his hand and rubs his dick with it, and rubs the excess on Stiles' hole, sticking a finger in to coat his insides as well. He feels Stiles close around him, and it takes all of his will power not to just shove himself in.

He fingers Stiles more, about to stick in a second finger, when Stiles interrupts with, "Derek just stick it in already, I don't need this much pampering when I want you to fuck my brains out."

He takes that as his cue, taking his finger out and placing his head against Stiles' soft pink flesh. He pauses for a moment, and then pushes forward, popping his head in, and Stiles already is sucking in sharp breaths. Derek stops, but then he says, "Don't stop, keep going."

And so Derek continues, pushing himself all the way in in merely 30 seconds. A record for him. He's genuinely surprised, considering he's quite large, Stiles wasn't complaining though, and neither was he.

Stiles had his nails on Derek's back, stabbing into him. Derek liked it though. It seems he's also a bit masochistic.

Derek starts off at a slow pace, Stiles squeezing on him more and more with each thrust, and it was rather difficult not to lose control. Eventually Stiles wasn't squeezing against him so hard, and his nails weren't digging as deep, so he went faster, deeper, and harder, until Stiles was drawing blood with his marks, and squeezing on him so tight he could barely stand it.

"Uhh... fuck... Derek..."Stiles says in between each thrust, "God... this... feels... so... fuck-ing... _gooood_."

Derek can't contain himself, he lurches down and bites Stiles neck again, harder than before; breaking the skin.

"_Ahh!_" Stiles cries out in ecstasy, curling his toes and arching his back before falling back onto the bed.

Derek pulls out and yanks Stiles closer to him, putting his legs on his shoulders, and sticking himself back in, pumping his hips again. He tilts his head to the side, and latches onto Stiles' leg, biting, sucking, and licking it.

Stiles is already getting close, he can't help it. His sexual fantasies are being executed down the the last detail. Derek can tell, and he angles Stiles up so he hits him right in the sweet spot with every thrust.

He's cumming in seconds, "_Oh fuck yeah!_" it's all over his stomach, some of it even landing into his open mouth.

Derek slides himself out and gets off the bed, but Stiles grabs his hand and practically begs, "Let me suck your dick."

Derek wasn't about to pass up this opportunity. Stiles got off the bed and knelt in front of Derek, his erection staring him in the face. Stiles basically knew what to do, but he knew he would suck. He laughed under his breath at his poor choice of words.

He doesn't know how to start, so he just takes the cock into his mouth, and he can barely get it in his mouth. He knows it's good if you take it down your throat, so he tries that right away. He finds out that he doesn't have a gag reflex, and Derek loves it. He throws his head back, moaning.

"Damn Stiles, I didn't expect you to be this good."

Stiles seems to say something in thanks, but it's inaudible. It just turns Derek on more, the vibrations on him, the fact that Stiles is putting his need to breathe aside to please him. He's so close to cumming he can barely stand it.

Stiles pull off to take a breath, but then he goes down once more, all the way down to the base. Derek loses it, he grabs the back of Stiles head and pushes him down as deep as possible, cumming down his throat.

After emptying himself into Stiles, he says, "Well... That was great."

Stiles swallows the cum that didn't make it all the way down and said, "Great? It was fucking amazing dude."

"Dude? What, are you going to high five me next?" Derek teases.

Stiles makes a faces and stands up to walk away, but he's sore and nearly falls over, but Derek catches him. And after a second, Derek realizes why he stumbled, and he laughs.

"Oh my god, you can't walk because I literally fucked away your lower body strength." Derek laughs loud enough that their nonexistent neighbors are about to come over and complain about the noise.

Stiles grabs his boxers from the floor and climbs into bed- literally- and slides them on as he pulls the covers over himself.

Derek grabs some from his drawer and joins Stiles in the bed. He reaches for Stiles, but he turns away, pretending to be angry.

"I'm sorry Stiles, I didn't meant to make you mad."

He turns around to face Derek, "You didn't, I just like to hear you apologize," he smiles after.

"You bitch."

Stiles makes a face of mock astonishment. The both laugh and Stiles turns around again, but this time he scoots back against Derek, spooning him. But Stiles notices that Derek isn't wearing underwear.

"Put your underwear on!"

Derek laughs loudly once more.

* * *

**Author notes**

This was my first time writing smut, I know it was probably just awful. Really sorry about it ;_;

Also sorry it was so short and it took so long. I'm not very good at writing smut, so it took me a long time to write it and be satisfied. Once again, sorry about that.

Hopefully next chapter will make up for this one. I've been having so many ideas lately, and I finally get to use them in the next chapter.

By the way, it's always nice if you leave a review, even if it's short, it's nice to know people appreciate my writing :D

Also, reviews help me know what you people want to read, so if, for example, you think this chapter is shit, then I will work on it and focus on what you do like.

That's all for now I guess ._.


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